Chefchaouen vs Fes

Northern Morocco's two most photographed cities could hardly be more different in character. Chefchaouen — the Blue Pearl — sits at 600 m in the Rif mountains, its labyrinthine medina washed in every shade of blue from periwinkle to cobalt. Cats sleep in doorways; artisans weave djellabas on wooden looms; the air smells of pine resin and fresh bread. It is intimate, photogenic and easy — a town of 45,000 that sees one million visitors a year, most of whom come for a day and stay longer. Fes is the antithesis of easy: a city of 1.2 million with a medina of thousands of lanes that has no simple map and no GPS signal that stays accurate for long. But Fes rewards effort with a medieval city still lived in: its tanneries, medersas and mosques go back centuries.

Visit Chefchaouen for its photogenic blue lanes and mountain serenity. Visit Fes for a deeper, more demanding encounter with Moroccan civilisation: its medersa architecture, living craft traditions and Fassi cuisine are in a class of their own. The best northern Morocco itinerary does both: fly into Fes, spend four nights, take the bus to Chefchaouen for two nights, then return to Fes or continue to Tangier. Do not attempt Chefchaouen as a day trip from Fes — the 3.5-hour drive each way does it no justice.

Read the full guide to Chefchaouen or to Fes.